This is the only team competition for this clay target shoot out. Three teams of two shooters will compete in a round for the prize. The most clay targets broken by a team will take home a $25 3 Bears gift certificate for each shooter.
To level the playing field shooters will draw a number from the can and they are matched up with the shooter who drew the same number. In this way an excellent marksman may be paired with a lousy shot which provides more chances for other teams to win. Then again its the luck of the draw so two good shooters may be paired or two beginners. Having fun is always the reward no matter what your skill level.
Each shooter on the team is stationed at a left side or right side position on the Skeet Range. The skeet house on the left throws the High Target from left to right and the house on the right throws the Low Target from right to left. The two shooters decide who will shoot the high house birds and who will shoot the low house birds. Sometimes that decision is made based on which direction a shooter is better at hitting. But shooters can shoot at either direction of targets if they want. Its just very hard to reload fast enough between shots to take them in both directions but some try.
This is a timed event and the targets come out fast and on short intervals. The shooter must reload on-the-fly while targets continue to be thrown. So you have to be fast at reloading and getting back on your targets. Typically each shooter will fire 15-20 shells in the time allotment. The team with the highest total score wins the round and each shooter takes home a gift certificate.
Over and Under shotguns are the most popular because they are the easiest and fastest to reload. But pump shotguns and semi-autos are also used by some.
This competition is the most exciting and unpredictable for the shooters. And the outcome of who wins can literally change in a single pull of the trigger. Its a fast moving competition where accuracy or luck is your best ally.
A line of five or more shooters take positions side by side at the 27 yard mark on the Trap Range. The first shooter on the left calls for the bird. They shoot and if they hit the clay target they move to the end of the line and the next shooter then calls for the bird. If they miss then the shooter to their right can shoot at the bird and if they break the target the first shooter is eliminated.
If the second shooter misses the shooter to his/her right (#3 in line) can then shoot at the target. If they miss then the #4 person can try to hit the target. Example: If that 4th shooter in line breaks the target they eliminate the 3 shooters to their left who all missed their shots.
You are eliminated if you shoot out of turn so you must be aware of your neighbor and if or when they pull the trigger. In other words, the shooter to your left must fire before you can take your shot providing the bird is still flying in the air. If you are eliminated but the competition still has shooters on the line you can buy back in for $5 and continue to compete until there is only one shooter left or you are eliminated again.
The event this year had a few rounds where the flying bird was broken by the 3rd or 4th shooter thereby removing half of the competition. And we were lucky enough to capture one round on video where the last shooter at the #6 position hit the bird with a "golden BB" to eliminate the entire squad to win the round. Now that is really a genuine thrill for the spectators to see too.
This is the easiest of the shooting events to compete in. If you can hold a shotgun up to your shoulder and aim at a paper target your chances of winning your round is just as good as the other shooters.
A round of five shooters are each assigned a Gobbler Head target underneath their position number. Each person shoots one low base 8 shotgun shell given to them by the club so that every shooter has the same number of pellets in their load. There is an X mark in the center of the target and after the five shooters have taken their shot the targets are "scored" to see who had a pellet hole closest to the X mark. They will win one of the 3 Bears $25 gift certificates. Shooters can shoot as many rounds as they want for $5 a pop as long as you have five to play.
This year besides the traditional shotguns and clay target shoots the club has added a new competition shooting with .22 caliber rifles in two categories; open iron sights and rifle scopes.
Even with the short notice for this new event there were 25 shooters competing in the rifle scope category and another five shooters using iron sights on their guns. The event was held at Pistol Bay 4 shooting shack with a nice warm fire in the wood stove to make it as cozy as shooting out your living room window. Don't try that at home!
Shooters would fire a total of ten shots at 25 yards during each round and three shooters at a time could be on the firing line in this timed event. You fired one shot at each of five silhouette style targets on paper, i.e. the traditional chicken, ram, javelina (pig), and the turkey with the fifth target being a round target. Each black target had a small white center which counted as 10 points and a hit on the black was worth 5 points.
The second paper target had the head and neck of a life size turkey with circular target rings for scoring points and a bullseye area scoring 10 points. Five shots were fired at this one target and the combined scores for each target made up the shooter's final score. You could bring your own gun or there were guns available to shoot if you didn't have one.
For every five competitors one gift certificate award was set aside so for the Optics/Scope division shooters five certificates were presented. The highest scores from the top down received those prizes including young markswoman Daisy Samples taking the honors of High Score Lady in the scope group. One more award was given for the highest score among the five iron sights shooters.
All in all it was a very successful event for the first year and hopes are this competition will see much more participation next year as the word spreads. Its great for shooters of all ages and perhaps next season more categories can be added - how about a youth division and a .22lr Pistol division. Our goal is to have fun and enjoy the shooting sports and this caliber is fitting for ever age of shooter.
The Snowshoe Gun Club kicked off the winter holiday season with a bang as usual. And the annual Turkey Shoot on Sunday November 24, 2019 couldn't have been on a more fitting day. The temperatures were in the mid to upper 20's with bare ground. Blue bird skies were cloudless with absolutely still air. So it was a picture perfect day and the best conditions you could ask for to put on a series of fun shoots.
The Turkey Shoot competitions are open to everyone; non-members of the public and members alike. And the entry fees for the competitions are the same for each shooter. This year the prizes were $25 shopping gift certificates at 3 Bears just in time to buy that bird or ham or load up on the side dishes and deserts for your holiday meal.
Special Thanks to Gary Barnes for completing this report.